This psychological racism is shown in Soyinka’s poem:
“HOW DARK?”…I had not misheard… “ARE YOU LIGHT
OR VERY DARK?”
The landlady tries to phrase her question so it does not sound too rude but it just shows her ignorance and stupidity. The capitals are used to show the landlady patronising the man by stressing on the words. Both Soyinka and Hughes show the more subtle aspects of racism like how hard getting decent housing is for a black person, which is a basic human right, especially in a western society. The difference is that they use different scenarios. In Hughes’ poem the character is confronting the landlord in the 1930’s about a problem while Soyinka’s character is having a dialogue in a telephone box trying to get a flat but both make the reader see and feel both characters’ emotion after such comments. E.g. In Soyinka’s poem
‘ By ill-mannered silence, surrender
Pushed dumbfounded to beg simplification.’
The character is confused and taken aback by the earlier question and can’t believe what he is hearing. Soyinka uses this to show the effect of racism upon the character and as a whole to anyone who has heard a racist comment directed at him or her. Also by using alliteration or sibilance as shown in the quote, Soyinka displays the words so they stand out and to create a more sensory description . The sound the words give sounds like the hissing of a telephone and help create a more descriptive and sensory scene. There is a difference between the two poets though; Hughes shows how harshly blacks were treated for such little crimes
‘ MAN THREATENS LANDLORD
TENANT HELD NO BAIL
JUDGE GIVES NEGRO 90 DAYS IN COUNTY JAIL’
And all the character was doing was protecting his home. Soyinka shows how ignorant people can be because any normal landlord would take any offer because you are wasting money with a flat with no tenant to pay rent but the landlady would not accept the offer because he was black. Both poets have different scenarios used but the subject of subtle racism is clearly shown in both poems and so are the characters’ emotions.
The two poets use their own style of language to create a certain effect on the reader. In 'Telephone Conversation', Soyinka uses formal, highly descriptive language written in Standard English. This shows that Soyinka is a clever, educated man and that the character in the poem is smarter than the landlady. E.g.
‘…Silence for spectroscopic
Flight of fancy…’
Not only is the vocabulary complex but the tone adopted by the narrator is also mocking the white woman's ignorance. Spectroscopic refers to the key idea that the woman is not just concerned that the man is not white but exactly how black he is. Langston Hughes, on the other hand, does not use complex vocabulary but uses repetition of words like ‘gonna’ and writes in colloquial language ‘’member’ and ‘gonna’. The use of these words gives the poem more depth and individuality, which can fit nicely into the tempo of the poem.
Both poets use many different poetic devices and their own style of writing in their poems. Soyinka uses enjambments often: “Silenced transmission of
Pressurized good-breathing”
This makes the poem flow and adds depth to the description by lengthening the line. Which is the same reason, Hughes uses enjambments in his poem: “When you come up yourself
It’s a wonder you don’t fall down.”
But Hughes uses a forced structure of enjambment of appearing on the second line of every stanza, which makes the poem more rhythmic and jazzy. Hughes use a jazzy, musical style in his poem thus it is called ‘Ballad of the Landlord’. By using structure enjambments and a rhyming pattern in the second and fourth lines of each stanza:
“Landlord, landlord,
My roof has sprung a leak.
Don’t you ’member I told you about it
Way last week?
He makes the poem flow like music and gives it a beat and tempo. Hughes makes good use of the musical style by creating tension in the fist six stanzas like many musical pieces and then like music; the poem speeds up giving a dramatic effect “Copper’s whistle!
Patrol bell!
Arrest.
Precinct Station.
Iron cell.”
This is short, snappy and has a rhyming beat and it demonstrates how fast and quick they dealt with blacks in society. Hughes uses repetition often, using colloquial language ‘gonna’ and nouns like ‘Landlord’, ‘Police’ and ‘Ten Bucks’ laying stress on the importance of them. Not only doe Hughes repeat words but he is continually asking questions:
‘Ten Bucks you say I owe you?
Ten Bucks you say is due?’
The continual repetition of questions not only shows how lazy and ignorant the landlord is but how long it takes for the landlord to sort the problem out while in just the last verse the police deal with the black man quickly.
Soyinka uses figurative phrases to make the reader think and understand the true meaning of the line or phrase:
‘…. Rapidly, wave-length adjusted’
Soyinka uses this metaphor and double-entendre on ‘wave-length’ to show how hard it is for a black person to get on with a white person. The use of metaphors help build up tension until the end of the poem because the reader is indulging into the emotions of the black man. The climax is when the character uses his wit to get his own back on the landlady. Hughes uses no metaphors and to keep his poem simplistic and so it does not lose its rhythm.
Soyinka writing is descriptive and to add to the scene’s description Soyinka use onomatopoeia e.g.
‘clanged’, ‘squelching’, ‘pipped’. By using onomatopoeia the reader gets a more vivid picture of the sounds and a better picture of the scenario as if you were there.
Again, Hughes uses no onomatopoeia because he does not need to because the poem is simplistic but also it would sound out of place in the structured rhythmic stanzas.
The two poets use different types of poetic devices to create their own specific effects on the reader.
Hughes uses rhyming and enjambment to make the poem ballad like and to make the poem flow. By doing this the reader can understand what is happening easily and the message of how unjust the racist world is on all those persecuted for their race or beliefs. Soyinka uses many poetic devices to create either a highly descriptive picture or phrases that the reader has to read the poem again to truly understand. By reading a poem through more than once the reader is forced to engage with a topic in more detail and with greater intimacy. Both poems give their desired effects on the reader and the poetic devices used help generate these effects.
The tone used in the two different poems creates certain effects on the reader. Soyinka’s tone is very dry and sarcastic to show the ignorance of the landlady,
“You mean- - like plain or milk chocolate?”
By using a dry tone, Soyinka slowly builds up the racism felt until the climax where he gets his own back on the landlady. Soyinka’s character seems to have a calm, naive tone but also witty,
‘I chose “West African sepia” – and as an afterthought
“Down in my passport” ’
Because he seems calm but is also showing he is smarter than the woman because you do not have your colour stated in your passport. And again these remarks help build up the climax at the end where the character mocks the landlady. Dissimilar to Soyinka’s slowly revealing tone, Hughes uses a fast upbeat tone to make the poem jazz-like and to make it flow,
“Landlord, landlord,
My roof has sprung a leak.
Don’t you ’member I told u about it
Way last week?”
Hughes uses this rhythmic tone in five more consecutive stanzas then, like music, Hughes changes the pace and tone to show how quickly the white police dealt with the black man and how hysterical the white people saw it using the big bold headlines.
“Copper’s whistle!
Patrol bell!
Arrest.
Precinct Station.
Iron cell.”
All these effects used make Hughes’ poem sound like a ballad. The two different poets use different tones effectively. Soyinka’s use of tone is very subtle and the reader may not even notice the climax being built up until the end while Hughes tone is vibrant and original which is almost a contrast to what is happening to Hughes’s character in the poem but the rhythmic tone makes the reader read on till the end where they can think about racism and its effects on humans.
Both poems show you racism and its effects on people and Hughes and Soyinka aren’t just writing about their personal experiences but also showing you that these things happened to many black people. The two poets write their poems in different ways, using different techniques, which give the poems their originality and identity. Soyinka uses humour to illustrate the ignorance of the landlady and shows how stupid she is when she does not pick up on the sarcasm until the end:
‘ “Foolishly, madam – by sitting down, has turned
My bottom raven black….” ’
This humour makes the poem more interesting and indulging. Hughes uses the element of music to make his poem fast, upbeat and enjoyable to read. The musical beat compliments the stanzas in which the character is facing a hard ordeal with his landlord. The hardship shown by the poets made me think how unjust and prejudice our forefathers were to blacks from slavery to not letting them get adequate housing in the western world. Hughes summed it up with the way the police treated his character with such efficiency and how harsh the jail sentence is for being a little assertive. The two poets illustrate the everyday hardships which black people faced and still do is some parts of the world and that may make us a bit more assertive with our actions and their effects on people.